August 2011

August 17, 2011

According to an article appearing in the Kane County Chronicle, there was quite a bit of shock when Jor-El of Krypton -- actually actor Russell Crowe -- spent some time at the Batavia Library in Kane. Library cafe worker Whitney Garwood offered, "It was kind of a shock. I didn't wake up thinking I would see Russell Crowe walk into my work." States the story, "Crowe has been in the area for the filming of the new Superman movie, Man of Steel. Crowe stars as Superman’s biological father Jor-El in the movie. Filming has been going on in several communities, including Sugar Grove, Aurora and Plano. Garwood said she was working in the back of the cafe when a co-worker called her up front saying she had a sandwich order for Crowe. 'He asked if we had gluten-free, which we didn’t,' Garwood said. 'We thanked him for his business. He was a nice guy. He left a tip in the tip jar.' "Michele Martzel, the promotional services coordinator at the library, and Batavia Library Director George Scheetz said they walked out on the patio to talk to Crowe. 'Someone in the library said they thought they saw Russell Crowe,' Martzel said. 'Neither of us wanted to bother him, but if we didn’t find out it was true, we’d be kicking ourselves.'"

One of the great things about a movie that films on location is that the residents simply never know when they and Hollywood will come together. Such was the case with Pastor Scott Hodge at the Orchard Community campus, who encountered Superman himself as Man of Steel was shooting. According to Hodge's blog, it began several months ago when a Warner Brothers location scout came to the Orchard campus in the hope of securing it as a kind of home base for the cast and crew, which the staff was told would be shooting throughout the summer.

"This would," he wrote, "essentially mean renting our entire campus (building and parking lot) for about three full days where it would be used for the storage of the cast’s trailers, trucks, holding spaces for extras, rooms for the makeup and wardrobe departments, and space for the caterers to serve breakfast and lunch each day to a couple hundred cast and crew. So after lots of consideration, conversation, contract reviews, etc…we gave them a thumb’s up….AND THEN worked really hard at keeping it all a secret (which wasn’t easy by the way!) until it was all said and done." All of that took place last week and it's obvious that Hodge and everyone else there thoroughly enjoyed the experience despite the fact that the campus was "flipped upside down" by the fact that they were invaded by a couple of hundred people. Enthuses Hodge, "It was a ton of fun and a real pleasure to host what was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was kind of surreal too, seeing celebrities walking past my office window and down the hallways of The Orchard. WHO, SCOTT, WHO??! Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Zack Snyder (Director), and Superman himself – Henry Cavill. (Sorry ladies, no Russell Crowe sightings… Fun times…great memories…and some fun stories to tell."

August 16, 2011

I09.COM has an interview with Zachary Quinto in which he muses about the next Star Trek film, offering, “I would imagine – this is just speculative – his planet’s been destroyed, he feels a real imperative to rebuild his race. But he’s in love with a human. There’s probably some potential conflict in that dynamic; I would not be surprised and I would be intrigued and excited by that if that were the case. I’m [also] interested to see what the villain situation is. What are we fighting against? What is our mission? That’s going to be really cool for me. I’m really excited to see the direction in which they take my character in general. Meanwhile, in an interview with STARTREK.COM, Anton Yelchin, who will be seen starting on Friday as Charley Brewster in the remake of Fright Night, reflects on 2009’s Star Trek and muses on the next chapter. “I think it’s a great film,” he enthuses. “It’s light and exciting and everything works about it. I’m a big fan of everyone’s performances. And I’m pleased that people liked it, too.” On Walter Koenig’s response to his portrayal he adds, “When you’re taking on something that’s been made iconic by an individual, and for so many years, there’s always that sort of desire, I guess in some selfish way, to gain their approval. It would such if he came up to me and was, like, ‘I f—king hate you. That was terrible, and I don’t like you.’ That’d be awful. But I’m so glad that he liked the work that I did, and to meet him was really great. It was really a very important thing for me. [As to the next one], I trust the people that are writing it. They wrote a good film and a good character the first time around, and I enjoyed doing that. So I trust that they’ll find some mission for me to do in the next one.”

August 13, 2011

The website Thinkmcflythink.com (gotta love that name!) is reporting that Warner Bros., which had made note that a Justice League movie was on the table, is developing a Superman/Batman film. States the story, "The studio is also quietly developing a Batman/Superman team-up movie. Similar to Justice League, the Brothers Warner has wanted to get their two biggest superheroes on the same screen together for years. The closest it came to fruition was Batman vs. Superman with Wolfgang Peterson-directing from a script by Andrew Kevin Walker. That fell apart as we all know, but executives loved that script. In a classic case of covering your ass, what we're hearing is two separate incarnations are being tooled. One version where the World's Greatest Detective is firmly established and helps mentor an up-and-coming, fresh-faced Supes and vice versa. Essentially, they're hoping they can woo Christian Bale back into the cape-and-cowl for a fourth time and in case the Oscar-winner tells them, 'No thanks, I'm done!', they'll go for a new actor altogether. Both versions would feature Henry Cavill's Last Son of Krypton."Editorial Note: While an intriguing notion, any possibility of a Superman/Batman movie would be years away. At least it would seem so, given that Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises hits theatres summer 2012 and Zack Snyder's Man of Steel the following summer. Still, this would be such a preferable idea to the notion of a Justice League movie; it would just be that much more realistic... if that's not too weird a word given the context.

August 12, 2011

Fans of the original 1985 version of Fright Night can take some solace from the fact that virtually everyone involved with the remake, which opens on August 19th, holds a certain reverence to the original, which has translated into a genuine passion for the project and a desire to create something genuinely special. The plot, of course, deals with teenager Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) who discovers that his next door neighbor, Jerry Dandridge (Colin Farrell), is a vampire and has to do whatever he can to stop him.. or quite literally die trying. "The challenge with every vampire movie - and there have been a lot throughout Hollywood's history - is how do you do something original and put a distinctive sin on a subject that's been around for centuries in fiction?" asks producer Michael De Luca, who admits he was surprised when Marti Noxon's agent suggested her. "We thought, 'Great, but she's already done the vampire thing with Buffy, so she probably wouldn't be interested.' Happily she ended up being very interested. Marti came in and pitched us basically the story that we're shooting. She had a very fully developed pitch." Adds executive producer Michael Gaeta, "I think that when audiences see the product of Marti's imagination, they'll find a lot of scary dark things, but also beautiful and wonderful things, too. She had a really great fix on exactly what the tone of the script should be and the importance of the relationships among the characters. She gave the script that extra emotional depth that she's so god at dramatizing. It was really a lot of fun all the way through her interpretation of Fright Night." One thing that needed to be retained from the original, everyone felt, was the balance between horror and humor. Offers director Craig Gillespie, "There are reall horrific moments that are very scary, and also very human moments. It wasn't just a straight genre film. Marti managed to balance thriller, humor and horror."

Although Stephen King's next novel, 11/22/63, won't be published until November, The Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme has optioned the rights to it as a film project that he will write and direct. States The Hollywood Reporter, "The tome, all 1000-pages of it, is set to hit stores in November and centers on an English teacher who goes through a time portal in an effort to stop the Kennedy assassination. He finds himself dealing with luminaries ranging from Elvis to JFK and meets a high school librarian that becomes the love of his life." King is expected to serve as executive producer if the film goes forward. This news follows reports that the Harry Potter director and writer team of David Yates and Steve Kloves may be bringing the author's The Stand to the big screen.

August 11, 2011

Marvel and Disney have announced their plans for Marvel's presence at Disney's D23 convention — which is rumored to be part of the reason that there was such a relatively low-profile presence for Marvel Entertainment at San Diego Comic-Con. On Sunday, August 21, at 10:15 a.m. in the Arena, join them for Marvel: The House of Ideas, an exclusive and unprecedented experience that will take you through the evolution of Marvel from its first comic book in 1939 to its current position as one of the most important creative forces in the world. During this presentation, which will include interactive Q&A segments, you will not only get an inside glimpse of the history of Marvel and its iconic Super Heroes but also discover why Marvel truly is the House of Ideas. This session will be hosted by Joe Quesada, Marvel's Chief Creative Officer and one of the most respected and sought-after writers and artists in the entertainment industry. “We’re thrilled to be a part of the one-of-a-kind show that is Disney’s D23,” said Quesada. “Whether attendees are new to the world of Marvel or longtime fans, they’re going to love what we’ve planned for them!” Also, be sure not to miss Marvel’s own President of Production Kevin Feige as he joins some of the top names in film on Saturday, August 20 at 10:30 a.m. at the Walt Disney Studios panel to discuss Marvel Studios’ plans for 2012, including the hotly anticipated Marvel’s The Avengers! Tickets to D23 Expo 2011 are available at http://www.D23Expo.com. Admission includes access to all experiences and entertainment at the D23 Expo and can be purchased for single days or for three full days of festivities. Admission is $42 for a one-day adult ticket and $32 for children 3-12. Three-day passes are $121 for adults and $91 for children. Members of D23: The Official Community for Disney Fans will receive a discount on admission as well as early entry to each day of the D23 Expo for themselves and their guests. More details about D23 Expo entertainment, events and special guests will be announced in the coming weeks. Fans can keep up with all the news by visiting www.D23Expo.com, as well as by following "Disney D23" on Twitter and Facebook.

While at Comic-Con, Quint from Aint It Cool News scored an interview with Andrew Garfield in which the actor discussed, among other things, the responsibility inherent in portraying the dual roles of Peter Parker and Spider-Man in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man. What follows is an excerpt from that interview. Follow the link for the full conversation. Quint: I guess the big question, the elephant in the room, is how you develop your own interpretation of Peter Parker as a character and of Spider-Man as a character. I mean, you not only have the established movie universe, but decades of different iterations of the character in comic book form. Andrew Garfield: I know. And people are still crazy about it. Quint: And to complicate it a lot of people are into the books today because of the Spider-Man movies and Tobey Maguire’s performance. Andrew Garfield: Yeah, I know. It rekindled my love for it. I was reminded about how much the comics and the cartoon series meant to me as a kid when I saw the film. When I saw that first movie, I thought “God! That symbol has meant so much to me for all my life, since I was two years old and I had my first Halloween.” Stepping into this is a number of things, you know? It’s a dream come true, for sure. I feel really lucky to have been given the opportunity. I wanted to make sure I had as much fun as possible because what I’ve found is that Peter Parker doesn’t get to have that much fun. He’s got a lot to do, he’s got a lot of stuff to clean up. Quint: Especially, I’d imagine, in the first movie of a new series of Spider-Man films. Andrew Garfield: He’s going through adolescence, which is a full time job, as we all know and have been through; that breaks you down and makes you sometimes question existence. And on top of that he gets given these powers, which on the surface to us all just seem like this ability to be stronger than you’ve always been, to be able to swing through the streets of New York City and get to experience the sensation of flight, which we’ve all dreamed about.